In a first, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) officers reached out to several ministries in the last week of April as part of a confidence-boosting measure. The meeting brought the CAG officials and those from the ministries across the table to discuss the pain points in their relations. CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu took this novel step because of growing tensions between those audited and the auditor.
The Delhi government is likely to extend the ongoing Winter Session to allow passage of the Jan Lokpal Bill which was cleared by the cabinet earlier this week.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Army to put its "house in order", saying that it feels that it has not been "fair" to the women officers who have alleged delay in promotions after being granted permanent commission on the directions of the top court in 2020.
A panel will examine the merits and demerits of various dates for the commencement of the financial year.
'We wanted the PM to speak, and he just refused to -- now we have the opportunity, not just in the Lok Sabha, but also in the Rajya Sabha, to lay the government on the mat.'
Divestment also was not covered. One would have expected divestment to be a major instrument for raising fund for various projects, as was the case in the last 3-4 budgets but we did not see it at all.
Rajya Sabha member Pravin Rashtrapal, who has been re-nominated by the Congress from Gujarat for the biennial elections to the Upper House, on Friday filed his nomination papers in Gandhinagar.
CM Stalin has a procedural problem. Nominating new ministers would entail his having to seek formal permission from governor R N Ravi. Stalin does not want to interact with the person of this governor, as far as possible, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Over the past six months Rajasthan has introduced some of India's most radical free-market labour, land and welfare reform.
Every option before the finance minister comes with a price tag, observes T N Ninan.
The reason behind issuing new bank licences is to allow more private sector entities to set up banks
The Congress leader told reporters that the Punjab government is 'preparing to challenge the Bills in the apex court on two counts'. "First, it is a state subject and the Union government has no right to enact a legislation on it. "Besides, the federal government cannot destroy the economy of states. Due to the Bills, losses will be too much for a small state like Punjab," he said.
The government on Thursday decided to ask the 13th Finance Commission to map the road for achieving fiscal deficit targets by including off-budget subsidies like oil, food and fertiliser bonds estimated at over Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1,000 billion) in the Budget.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the validity of two central laws and the corresponding rules that provide for a maximum tenure of five years for the directors of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate.
Niti Aayog has come out with an initiative to improve governance in states.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday said the problem with electoral bonds scheme is that it provides for "selective anonymity" and "selective confidentiality" as the details are available with the State Bank of India (SBI) and can also be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.
The Adani group has exited the financial services business by selling its entire 90 per cent stake in Adani Capital and Adani Housing to private equity (PE) firm Bain Capital for Rs 1,440 crore. The total valuation of the Adani financial services business stands at Rs 1,600 crore. Gaurav Gupta, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Adani firms will hold the rest of the stake.
On the present government's 'Make in India' campaign, C Rangarajan, former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, says it is important to first ask for whom it is being made.
As many as 483 infrastructure projects, each worth Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns totalling more than Rs 4.43 lakh crore, according to a report. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation monitors infrastructure projects worth Rs 150 crore and above. Of the 1,781 such projects, 483 reported cost overruns and 504 were delayed.
'He will go to any extent, and he will have the full support of the Union government as they may not like a Left government to continue here.'
JioMeet, which has already got the endorsement of top government officials and politicians, saw a huge surge in its ranking on Google Play, based on its downloads.
Kumar also questioned the prime minister on various promises made by his government including return of black money, enhanced MSP to farmers and special status to Bihar among others.
The BJP needs to win maximum number of seats from northeast to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that development of the region continues.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday flagged concerns about possible cartelisation in markets and stressed on the need to look into the causes of short supply of commodities. Speaking at the 13th annual day function of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), the minister also said that the regulator needs to have a "proactive understanding" of mergers and acquisitions. "Cartelisation is going to be a challenge...," the minister said.
In a significant development, India is believed to have placed a funding request of around $55 million in its first call with the Pandemic Fund of the World Bank, sources said. The fund has been set up to finance critical investments in a bid to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capacities at national, regional, and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. It was created in the aftermath of the Covid-19 global pandemic.
The FRBM report, to be submitted on Tuesday, is likely to have 'excuse clauses', absolving the government of meeting its fiscal commitments under certain conditions such as war or conflict, global economic meltdowns or natural disasters.
Chief ministers of states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka were among those who raised the issue of loan waver scheme for farmers.
The nodal officer for EVMs in Varanasi, a returning officer (RO) in Sonbhadra district and an additional election officer in Bareilly district have been pulled out from election duties, a day ahead of the counting of votes in UP.
'There is a misconception that the Centre gives money for the development of Delhi'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
The PM-CARES fund, which has been set up to provide relief during the coronavirus pandemic, has contributed over Rs 2,200 crore for the first phase of vaccination drive, which is looking to inoculate frontline healthcare workers, the Expenditure Secretary said on Tuesday.
The finance minister defended the change in the tax rates.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government has begun an exercise to assess the impact of the pandemic on the economy and likely contraction in GDP, even as she did not rule out the possibility of another stimulus to boost growth.
The ED carried out searches against two former auditor firms of IL&FS -- BSR and Associates and Deloitte Haskins and Sells -- on Wednesday in connection with its money-laundering probe into alleged financial irregularities at the infrastructure development and finance company, official sources said. The premises linked to the two auditors in Mumbai were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they added. The action came a week after the Supreme Court set aside a Bombay High Court verdict that quashed an SFIO probe against the two companies, both former auditors of IL&FS Financial Services, paving the way for action against them under the Companies Act and allowing the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take forward its enquiry against them.
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the country is at the doorstep of economic revival on the back of accommodative monetary and fiscal policies being pursued by the central bank and the government.
The 13th Finance Commission had last year set a capital expenditure-to-GDP target of 4.5 per cent by FY15.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday tore into Narendra Modi government, accusing it of bulldozing the federal structure and running a Presidential form of government, drawing sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The panel, to be headed by Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Shymala Gopinath, will review the structure of the National Small Savings Fund and give recommendations on making schemes more flexible and market-linked.
